Tractors, portable manure tanks, and other agricultural vehicles are ubiquitously used across crop production operations for seeding, fertilizing, and providing other inputs into farmland. While these agricultural vehicles are important for efficient distribution of inputs on fields, soil compaction from vehicle tires can negatively affect soil structure leading to decreased crop yields.
Equipment manufacturers have increased tire size and reduced inflation pressures on agricultural vehicles to lower ground contact pressures and reduce soil rutting and compaction. However, this tire adjustment to lower pressure has an adverse affect on vehicle performance and gas mileage when driven on roads and other non-farm field terrain.
Inflating and deflating tires to handle heavier loads is common practice in the trucking industry, but not something found in agriculture. Tire inflation systems have been attached to long haul trucking rigs as means of adjusting tire pressure while on the move. Systems that have been developed include the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,245,746 B2 disclosing a tire inflation system.
The tire inflation system of U.S. Pat. No. 8,245,746 B2 includes a hose connecting to a tire via a valve stem, a control valve in fluid communication with the hose that senses when pressure falls below predetermined minimum value. When this occurs, the control valve automatically opens to re-supply air to the tire until the predetermined minimum value is achieved. A pressure relieve valve is also in fluid communication with the hose. If, for example, ambient temperatures increase, causing tire pressure to increase, then the pressure relief valve automatically vents excessive pressure to the atmosphere. The pressure relief valve is set at a predetermined maximum pressure level that is generally at least 5 PSI more than the predetermined minimum value. While this system effectively senses change in tire pressure and reacts to adjust the tire pressure back to the desired pressure, it is configured to sense and react to small changes in tire pressure, not to efficiently adjust tire pressure between large pressure differences. Consequently, these systems would take a significant amount of time to deflate tires, as once the tire pressure approaches desired pressure, tire deflation slows considerably. Further, the cost of these systems are typically high.
There is a need for on-farm equipment that would control and adjust the tire pressure of field equipment whilst the equipment is in motion, and do so at a speed that allows the operator to efficiently move from road to field without having to wait significant time periods for tire pressure adjustment. The objective of adjusting tire pressure would be to deflate tires to below high pressures used on roads to reduce soil compaction, which would be damaging to field operations.
Best practices developing in the farm management have been driving the requirements to reduce costs of operation, increase efficiencies and conserve the land and water resources demanded in farm operation. Devices that relate to precision farming and more effective control of equipment and its effect in the operation are gaining acceptance as measures to mitigate the issues. It would be desirable to provide product that is a low cost, after-market accessory to assist in addressing the on land issue of soil compaction as well as the decreasing costs of fuel and efficiency.